Splitting-machine.



F. PETER.

SPLITTING MACHINE.

neucmou FILED MAP-.16, 1914.

1,189,999. Patentdiuly 4, 1915,

772777195565 Zine/"77767: W fia77%fe7e7f FRANK PETER, OF CHICAGO,ILLINOIS.

SPLITTING-MACI-IINE.

Application filed March 16, 1914. Serial No.'825,047.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK PETER, a citizen ofthe United States, and a resident of the city ofChicago, county of Cook,and.

State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSplitting-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to. splitting machines and'more specifically to amachine de signed for use especially in the splitting of wood forkindling purposes.

The object of my invention is the produc-i tion of a machine of thecharacter mentioned which will be of durable and economical con--struction and through the medium of which the splitting of wood may beeffected with.

illustrated in the drawings comprises a base.

10 upon the upper side of which are. rigidly secured bearing" plates 11and 12. Arranged above the base 10 adjacent the plate 11 is a head 13triangular inform which is slidably mounted upon a plurality of parallelhorizontally extending guide rods 14, corresponding ends of which aresecured rigidly in the plate 12 and a bearing member 15 arisingtherefrom as clearly shown. Goopcratingwith the head 13 is. a stem 16,one end of whichis rigidly secured in said head, being held therebyagainst. rotation. Said end of said stem projects through the head 13and is pointed in order to serve" as a center adapted to pierce one endof the piece of 'wood' or material A which is to be split. Thearrangement is such, as will be observed, that, longitudinal movement ofthe head 13 uponguide rods 14 is effected by longitudinally moving. thestem 16. Longi tudinal movement of stem 16 is effected by means of ,wormand worm-wheelmechamsm which is operable by means of a rotary shaft 19mounted in bearing member 15.

Provided at the outer ends of'the guide rods leis a cutting or splittingelement consisting of a, stem 20 which is secured in a plate2l fixed totheouter ends of said guide rods by means of-a. nut, 22. Provided at thelnner end of the stem 20 ,is a plurality'of blades 23 so arranged thatthe cutting edges thereof are disposed radially about a point-3 edcenter 24. Mounted .upon the stem 20 for rotary adjustment thereofis amember 25 to which is secured a second set of blades 26 arrangedrelatively the same as blades 23 as just described. i

F ixedto one .end of the worm shaft 19 is a gear 27' which meshes with apinion28 fixed to a shaft 29 which is mounted in suitable ,bearingsarising from the plate 11. Also fixed to the shaft 29 is apulley 3Oabout'which travels an endless belt 31, said belt also passing around apulley 32 which is fixed to a shaft 33 mounted in suitable hearingsarising from the plate 12. Also fixed to shaft 33 is a gear 34 whichmeshes with a gear 35 loosely mounted upon a shaft 36 which is mountedinsuitable bearings arising from plate 12. Loosely mounted upon shaft 36,the same being fixed togear 35 is a pulley 37 around which travels anendless belt 38, said belt also passing around a pulley 39'fixed todriving shaft 40 which is mounted in suitable bearings arising fromplate 11. Upon theshaft 40 is also fixed a pulley ll. around. whichpasses a pulley 42 for. connection with any suitable source of powersupply. An operative connection is thus established between the wormshaft 19 and the power shaft 40 whereby, when said driving shaft ispositively rotated said worm shaft will be rotated in a direction .to

cause longitudinal movement of the stem 16 v and hence the head 13toward the cutting or splitting element of. the. machine. gearing andbelting. employed to establish the operative connection between. drivingshaft 40 and worm shaft 19 serve simply to reduce the speed, saiddriving shaft, when the machine is in uSebeing'driven at a com- TheSpecification of Letters Patent. g P f t J l 4 191 of pieces or sectionsas will be readily understood. The rotary adjustment afiorded the member25 permits of the blades 26 being moved into intermediate positionsrelative to the blades 23, in which event the piece of material will besplit into six parts. By adjusting said blades 26 so that the same arein alinement with the blades 23 it is evident that the piece of materialwill be split into but three parts. Also arranged upon the shaft 36 arepulleys 4:3 and 44: the former being loose upon said shaft and thelatter being fixed to said shaft. 1* bred to the opposite end of shaft36 is a pulley 45 upon which travels an endless twisted belt 4.6 whichalso passes around. a pulley t? which is fixed to the worm shaft 19.With this arrangement it will be seen that an operative connection isestablished between the shaft 36 and the worm shaft, and so that whenthe belt 38 is shifted to engage with pulley 44 the driving of saidshaft from the driving shaft e0 will be effected through the medium ofshaft 36 and belt at. In this case however the worm shaft will bereversely rotated in order to effect retrograde or return movement ofstem 16 and head 13. The pulleys which are involved in the latterdriving connection are so proportioned that the return movement of thestem 16 and head 13 will be very rapid, the worm shaft, in this instancebeing driven at a much higher rate of speed than in the positive oroperative movement thereof.

Coiiperating with the belt 38 is a belt shifting mechanism consisting ofa transversely extending shiftably mounted bar 48 from which arisespaced studs or posts 49 which engage against opposite sides of saidbelt as clearly shown in Fig. 1. One end of said bar A8 is engaged withthe free end of a rocker arm 51 which is fixed to an oscillatory shaft52 mounted in suitable bearings arising from plates 11 and 12. Thearrangement is such that said shifting bar 48 may be actuated byoscillating said shaft 52 as will be readily understood. Provided uponsaid shaft adjacent the opposite ends thereof are laterally projectingcurved arms 53 and 53, and fixed to the stem 16 are laterally projectingcam members 5% and 54; arranged to coperate respectively with said arms53 and 53. The arrangement is such that in the operation of the machine,as the stem 16 approaches either terminal of its movement the cam member54 will engage with the arm 53 or the cam member 5% will engage with thearm 53 and thereby cause outward rocking of the arm engaged in order toeffect oscillation of shaft 52 and hence actuation of the shiftingmechanism in order to shift the belt 38 into engagement with the idleror loose pulley 43. In other words, with this arrangement as the cutteractuate the belt shifting mechanism to move 1 the belt 38 intoengagement with pulleys 37 or 4% to secure positive or reverse operationof the machine.

The pieces of material A to be split are elevated to and supported inposition for engagement by the head 13 and cutter blades 23 and 26 bymeans of a mechanism which is capable of manual operation by means of apedal 58 provided at the outer ends of pivoted levers 59.

With a construction as set forth then, it will be seen that the membersA which it is desired to split are placed upon the base 10 and slid orrolled onto the elevating mechanism and elevated to operative posit-ionbetween the head 13 and the splitting blades by depression of pedal 58.The bar 55 is then manually shifted by the operator to shift the belt 38into engagement with the pulley 37 in which event the driving mechanismwill operate to feed the stem 16 and hence the head 13 toward the memberA. Said head 13 will press the member A into engagement with the blades23 and 26 which will effect splitting thereof into a plurality of piecesof desired size for kindling or other purposes as will be readilyunderstood. As the head 13 approaches its terminal of movement in thisdirection the cam member 54 will engage with the arm 53 and causeshifting of belt 30 to engagement with the loose pulley 43, therebyeffecting cessation of the operation of the machine. The operator,through operation of the member 55, will then effect shifting of thebelt 38 into engagement with the pulley 44, in which event the drivingmechanism will be reversely rotated at an increased speed to secure arapid return or retrograde movement of stem 16 and the head 13. As saidstem and head approach the terminal of their return movement the cammember 54 will engage with the arm 53 and thereby effect automaticshifting of belt 38 to engagement with loose pulley 53 and hence againeffect stopping of the operation of the machine. This course ofoperation is repeated in the splitting of the successive members A.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form ofconstruction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable ofvariation and modification Without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details ofconstruction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variationsand modifications as come within the scope of the appended claim.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

A splitting machine comprising a cutting element consisting of two setsof blades, each set consisting of a plurality of blades having radial-1ydisposed cutting edges, said sets of blades being relatively rotatablyadjustable; and means for pressing a piece of material to be split intoengagement with 15 said blades, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK PETER.

Witnesses:

JOSHUA R. H. Po'rrs ARTHUR A. OLso-N.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

